


Nightmares

by JC_Cumberbatch



Category: Criminal Minds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-10-25 02:53:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10755240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JC_Cumberbatch/pseuds/JC_Cumberbatch
Summary: When the member of the team have nightmares Aaron Hotchner is there for them, but who helps Hotch when he has a nightmare?





	1. Jennifer Jareau

JJ woke up with a start, breathing heavily, she sat up in the bed at the hotel the team were staying in for their current case and sighed. She ran her hands through her hair as the after effects of her nightmare wore off and her breathing began to calm down. She got out of the bed and made her way to the door that led to the balcony and opened it before stepping out into the cool night air. She stood there, looking out over the small town they found themselves in, and breathed in the fresh air.

 

"Couldn't sleep?" she heard somebody ask from the next balcony, causing her to jump. She looked over and saw Hotch standing on the balcony attached to his room.

 

"Jesus Hotch, you almost gave me a heart attack," she said, Hotch looked apologetically at her, "and no, I couldn't."

 

"Nightmares?" he asked. She opened her mouth to object before closing it again and sighing.

 

"Yeah," she replied. 

 

"I've got just the thing to help you with that," Hotch said, before walking back into his room. A couple minutes later he returned with something in his hand, "can you catch?" he asked. JJ gave him a look that told him she could and he threw it over. She caught it in her hands and chuckled when she saw what it was.

 

"Chocolate?" she asked.

 

"I don't know if it actually helps but so far I haven't found something that chocolate doesn't fix," Hotch said causing JJ to laugh, "so do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

 

"To be honest I don't really remember it," she said. 

 

"Okay," Hotch said, a sudden gust of wind blew over them and JJ shivered, "you should head back inside JJ, it's starting to get quite cold."

 

"And you should go inside and get some sleep Hotch," JJ replied. Hotch smiled.

 

"Alright," he said, "Goodnight JJ and I hope you enjoy your chocolate," He opened the door to his room.

 

"Night," JJ responded, "Oh and Hotch," he turned around to face her, "Thank you," she said, smiling, and he smiled back to her before walking into his room and she headed into hers.


	2. Derek Morgan

"No!" Morgan shouted in his sleep before he woke with a start, he sat up in his bed, his breathing uneven, and ran his hands over his face. He stood up and put on a pair of shorts and a hoodie before he left his room and went for a run to calm himself down. As he arrived back to the hotel that the team was staying in he saw Hotch walk out of his room, preparing to go on his normal morning run.

 

"You alright?" he asked Morgan.

 

"Yeah, just couldn't sleep," he replied.

 

"Nightmares?" Hotch asked.

 

"Yeah," Morgan replied, "and no I don't want to talk about it."

 

"Alright," Hotch said, "Just take it easy and try to get some more sleep."

 

"Will do, Hotch," Morgan went into his room and got back into bed. He managed to get about 30 minutes of sleep before he woke up again. He decided to have a shower and when he got out he saw a cup of coffee sitting on a small table near the door, he walked over to it and saw a note next to it, it said: 'Thought you could use a coffee as you probably didn't sleep much and I'm always here if you ever need to talk - H' Morgan picked up the coffee and took a sip before he pulled out his phone and sent a text to Hotch. 'Thank you,' it read, 'No problem,' Hotch replied.


	3. Penelope Garcia

Garcia woke up in the middle of the night with tears streaming down her face she sat up and grabbed her laptop from nearby, she loaded up her internet and logged into her social media before scrolling through pictures of cute animals but, with the nightmare she had just had, nothing was helping. Suddenly she got a message, she clicked it and saw that it was from Hotch.

 

'Hey, you alright?' It said.

 

'Yes sir, I'm fine. Why do you ask?' She responded.

 

'You're online at 2 in the morning.' He replied.

 

'Yeah, I had a bad dream about you guys all getting hurt during a case.' She said, 'I have been trying to cheer myself up with animal pictures but nothing seems to help.'

 

'Here, I've got something that might help.' He sent her a video file, 'Jess sent this to me whilst we were away on a case.' Garcia opened the file and saw that it was a video of Jack singing, instantly a smile grew on her face.

 

'OMG, that is adorable.' She sent back. He sent her another video file.

 

'Here's a video of Jack trying to help Jess make a birthday cake for me last year.' Hotch continued to send Garcia adorable videos and pictures of Jack for a little while longer. 

 

'Thank you sir.' She suddenly sent.

 

'What for?' He replied.

 

'For staying awake and cheering me up. You are a good man Aaron Hotchner.' She sent.

 

'Thanks.' He responded before they both logged off to go to sleep.


	4. David Rossi

One night, whilst the team were on a case in Wisconsin, Hotch was woken up to the sound of Rossi talking in his sleep. 

 

"Stop! Get off me!" he said. Hotch immediately got out of bed and went over to the older mans bed.

 

"Dave, it's just a dream, you're safe," he said as he shook Rossi's shoulder. Rossi woke up and looked at Hotch, "you good?" Hotch asked.

 

"Yeah," Rossi gasped. 

 

"Was the dream too bad for some scotch to fix?" Hotch asked.

 

"Aaron, nothing's too bad for scotch to fix," Rossi said, Hotch laughed before grabbing a couple of bottles from the mini bar in their room. They both sat down at the table and started to drink their drinks.

 

"So, what was it about?" Hotch asked.

 

"Hmm?"

 

"Your nightmare," Hotch replied.

 

"Oh, it was just another nightmare about one of our murder cases that involved children, they always seem to get to me," Rossi said.

 

"I know the feeling," Hotch said.

 

"But hey, lets forget about all of that for now," Rossi said.

 

"Alright," Hotch said, "do you want to play a game of cards?"

 

"Sure," Rossi said. Hotch went over to his bag and pulled out a pack of cards and they played with them for a couple of hours.


	5. Emily Prentiss

Prentiss shouted out in her sleep and quickly moved, as though she was dodging something, causing her to fall onto the floor and wake up. She sat on the floor, tears forming in her eyes when she heard her phone go off. She stood up and walked over to it, she picked it up and saw a text from Hotch.

 

'Hey, are you okay? I thought I heard something coming from your room.' It said.

 

'I'm having a bad day,' She responded, a couple of minutes later she heard a knock on her door. She opened it and saw Hotch standing there in his pyjama trousers and a t-shirt. She let him in and shut the door behind him. 

 

"How you feeling?" he asked. Tears started to stream down her face as she tried to answer. Hotch put a hand on her shoulder and led her to a chair, she sat down on it and Hotch grabbed a couple of tissues, from a box of them that were nearby, before handing them to Prentiss. Eventually she stopped crying and felt as though she could speak.

 

"I had a dream that nobody forgave me for faking my death and that when we found Doyle he killed me for real and I died with the team hating me," she said.

 

"Emily, you know that they could never hate you, sure they would be annoyed, but they would never hate you," he said, smiling.

 

"I know, Hotch, but I can't help feeling guilty for deceiving them," she replied.

 

"Don't feel guilty, they all understand that me, you and JJ did what we had to to keep you safe, nobody blames you for it," Hotch said.

 

"I just wish that we never had to resort to that," Prentiss said.

 

"Me too," Hotch replied, "but that was in the past and we have all moved on from it, nobody blames you for what happened, they are just glad that we got you back."

 

"Thanks Hotch," Prentiss said. 

 

"Anyway, you should try to sleep, busy day tomorrow," Hotch smiled.

 

"Alright, goodnight Hotch," Prentiss said.

 

"Goodnight," Hotch replied before leaving to go to his own room.


	6. Spencer Reid

"No, stop it! Leave her alone!" Hotch heard someone shouting from the next room, he shot up out of his bed as he recognised the voice as Reid's. He quickly grabbed the spare keys that he had for everybody's rooms and found the one for Reid's. He walked to the next room and unlocked it, when he walked in he saw Reid moving around on his bed. He quickly walked over and shook Reid.

 

"Hey, Spencer, it's me, you're okay it's only a dream," Reid shot up and looked around the room before his eyes landed on Hotch. 

 

"Oh good, it was only a dream," Reid sighed, "I dreamt that somebody had kidnapped my mom," he said.

 

"Are you alright now?" Hotch said.

 

"Yeah, sorry for waking you up," Reid replied.

 

"It's alright," Hotch assured him. He looked around the room and saw a chess board set up on the table, Typical Reid, He thought to himself. Reid saw him looking at the chess board.

 

"Wanna play a game?" he asked before he could stop himself, "I, er, I don't think I could get to sleep again after that."

 

"Sure," Hotch answered, they both sat down at the table.

 

"You can start," Reid said, Hotch moved his first piece and the game started. They played for about an hour before Reid felt that he could go back to sleep. 

 

"Thanks Hotch," Reid said as Hotch stood to leave, "and again, I'm sorry for waking you up."

 

"Reid, it's fine, we all have bad dreams sometimes even I get them, I'm just glad I could help you out," Hotch replied. Reid smiled at him and Hotch left to go back to his room.

 

The next day 

Rossi, Morgan, Garcia, JJ, Prentiss and Reid were all gathered around a large table in a police station in Minnesota. Reid looked up and saw Hotch talking to a police officer through the window. 

 

"Has anyone else noticed that he has helped all of us when we have had nightmares?" he said to the others, they all turned to look in the direction that Reid was looking and saw Hotch.

 

"Yeah, what about it?" Morgan asked.

 

"Well, he said to me that even he gets nightmare, he has helped all of us but who helps him?" Reid questioned. They all looked thoughtfully at each other as they too wondered who Hotch went to when he had a sleepless night.


	7. Aaron Hotchner

"No! Jack!" Hotch shouted in his sleep before he woke up, panting at the dream he had just had. He sat up and tried to calm his breathing when he heard a knock at his door.

 

"Daddy?" Jack asked through the door before he opened it. 

 

"Hey buddy," he smiled, "did I wake you up?"

 

"Yeah, you were shouting in your sleep again," the young boy said.

 

"Sorry, I had a nightmare, I didn't mean to wake you up," Hotch said.

 

"It's alright daddy," Jack said, he climbed up onto Hotch's bed and sat next to his father, "you shouted my name this time, was it about me?"

 

"Yeah," Hotch said, "but only because I care about you a lot and I don't want anything bad to ever happen to you."

 

"Nothing bad will happen to me daddy, you protect me from everything," Jack said and Hotch smiled at his son. He picked him up and held him close as Jack wrapped his arms around his neck and kissed his cheek, "I love you daddy," Jack said. 

 

"I love you too buddy," Hotch said as a tear ran down his cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was just something I thought of to cheer myself up after a rough day, I hope you like it, it was kinda rushed so may not be that good, it's the first fanfiction I've actually finished but if you like my work then I do have other pieces I am working on.   
> Thanks for reading.


End file.
